Let These Workers Help with the Crisis
Prostitution has been battled with its legality since its creation back in biblical times. This issue affects the providers and consumers of the service, the police and government as a whole. Legalize prostitution by 2014 through laws dealing with the sale of sex services. Sex services can be found in a legalized form all over the world ranging from “lone workers” in Ireland, who are strictly permitted to selling on the street but if you are there with another “night walker” it is considered a brothel which is illegal, to the red light district of Amsterdam where almost anything goes. The reality is that America is in a financial crisis and our government is looking for ways to solve it. The republicans want a cuts-only plan and the democrats are looking at raising taxes on the wealthy but both parties are overlooking something that is happening and will continue to happen as long as the human libido exists. The economy is too big to tackle all at once right now but if we cut it down in to more manageable sizes then it will be easier to solve, and the issue of prostitution can help rejuvenate it, prostitution will not be the only savior but it will help where it can and as much as it can.
Prostitution has been referred to as the oldest profession and can date back to “6th century BCE” (Head, P.1), where “Greek literature refers to three classes of prostitutes: pornai, or slave prostitutes; freeborn street prostitutes; and hetaera, educated prostitute-entertainers who enjoyed a level of social influence that was denied to nearly all non-prostitute women. Pornai and street prostitutes, appealing to a male clientele, could be either female or male. Hetaera were always female” (Head, P.1). There are people today that believe that this is not an issue, but the fact is that it is still being discussed which means that it is an issue. This issue continues today in Ireland with the “Turn off the Blue Light” movement. One of their greatest quotes talks about a future where the government is trying to help “Imagine an Ireland where government funding could go to projects beyond just those on a mission to end sex work, organizations that could provide advice and training and support to sex workers, perhaps run a nationwide incident reporting and alerts scheme? Imagine a garda/police liaison officer specifically for sex workers, somewhere sex workers could turn, without fear of arrest? Imagine a society where sex workers were not seen as non-people that have to accept violence and abuse? Imagine the understanding of sex work that could be gained if we stopped excluding sex workers? Imagine there was a non-judgmental organization that could offer sex workers help exiting sex work? These are radical ideas, but TOBL is here to bring you such radical ideas” (TOBL).
Some people may say that prostitution is an unfit way to make money and support yourself and possibly your family; some may say that because of your profession that you will not be able to get into heaven after you die. Others may say that this is setting a bad example for the future generation. These are all valuable points of view on this touchy subject. No one knows what happens after we die and if these people choose to take on this profession while they are alive then it is their choice to do so, but for us to outlaw a very lucrative business that could help significantly with the financial crisis we are in, just because of what might happen after we die seems illogical. Now for the people that say it is setting a bad example for our future generation, it is true that it is a rather seedy underside of our society, and many parents would be upset to find out that their children have become a part of that society. This is why the government should legalize prostitution only in the form of brothels and buildings where there cannot be gazers and onlookers. This will shield our youth from “looking up” to these people and accepting it as a mode of livelihood for themselves. This way the sale of sex can be monitored and taxed more like a traditional business. Plus it keeps the suppliers of the service safer because they are in a place they know and have been before, rather than being taken to where the consumer wants to go and do whatever it is they want.
The solution is simple legalize prostitution only in the form of a brothel or other confined space, while still keeping “street-walking” illegal it would have to be at a national level because then the government can tax it effectively unlike what they did with other taxable aspects of this seedy sub-society. This solution entails legislation changing laws that outlaw prostitution now and replace them with legal ways of selling sex services. Next building specific buildings for these businesses. There are still the pimps that had their “territory” and they might be questioning “why can we not have street walking also?” or “what am I supposed to do now?” Under Colorado law right now the penalty for being a pimp is “4-12 yrs and/or $3,000-$750,000 and is also a class 3 felony” (McWilliams). Some may say that this is pretty lucrative for the government the way it stand but that money doesn’t go to the economy it goes to the government so that they can pay to house and contain the inmates right now (Bowmaker, Ch.7). Wouldn’t it be better if there was a more consistent way of gaining revenue? So the best way to get them to support the new deal is to offer them some sort of incentive. This will not be a quick process because the government has to go in to each area, find the pimps that run the business now in the area and ask them to open a brothel and “clean-up” the streets of the neighborhood. As Colorado Law stands right now prostitution is classified under human trafficking. “Human trafficking is the recruitment and transportation of persons within or across national boundaries by means of force, fraud, or deception for the purpose of exploiting them economically” (Schaffer, Ch.257). We need to re-write the laws so that prostitution is defined as the consensual sale of sex but only sold in the form of a brothel.
There are still some that may be against this idea but from different points of view. The health insurance group is probably asking how are we supposed to insure these people who are putting their health second for this job. This plan has sought out to eradicate these issues. Health insurance is a tough issue with prostitution because of how easily diseases can spread from person to person, obviously the premium will be higher for people who are in this line of work but there is also a lot more coverage. Perhaps the insurance companies can offer scenario-specific plans that are made specifically for prostitutes and the diseases that they are prone to contracting. In Germany the insurance looks like this: “insurance companies only loosely define the jobs of their insured into groups, and not individual types of employment. In other words, rather than being defined as "prostitute" or "sex worker" in insurance companies' computer systems, the women on health schemes may simply be in "group 913," which also includes hotel and restaurant workers” (Ahmed 2009). Maybe America should model this plan if prostitution becomes legal.
Also the IRS is trying to tax it as a legitimate business. These are fair questions and have been discussed for some time now. The IRS has a good argument about how to tax it and this is much simpler to solve. By only legalizing prostitution in the form of a brothel it can have an owner and workers that work on commission similar to a car salesman or masseuse. This way the building is being taxed as a whole rather than trying to track down every lone worker and collecting from them as individual contractors. The way massage therapists are taxed right now is like this; “If you are employed, your employer withholds taxes for you, and you do not have to file quarterly estimated tax. Your employer gives you a W-2 form that shows how much income you have been paid for the year and how much money was withheld for state, federal, Medicare and FICA” (Social Security). If you itemize your deductions, you might be eligible to deduct business expenses you incurred that your employer did not reimburse you for, such as professional association dues, massage lotions and accessories, massage-related magazine subscriptions and continuing education, to name a few” (AMTA). These men and women are trying to earn a decent wage and contribute to the well being of a very large market of people.
Implementation will not be quick it will take some time after the laws have been passed. First the government needs to offer an incentive for the pimps to open brothels. This plan calls for elimination of the current penalty for pimps allowing them to do business the way the government sees as the correct and safe way to do it, followed by a subsidy for the buildings that need renovations but most of that cost will be for the owner to pay. Then the IRS will need to set a flat tax that all brothels around the country will pay. The national government will be affected by this implementation because of the huge influx in revenue that they will receive. In the short term or the first year the market will explode because it can be found everywhere. Then the market will slow down to a steady pace when consumers change their appetite for what they want. This is the business side of the argument where we can look at what happens when prostitution is legalized. This would be a similar model to the one of the energy boom back in the early 2000’s. What will happen is there will be a large rush of producers supplying basically the same service as time goes on, the more reputable and upscale brothels will stay in business and the others will cease to exist, then the consumers will become more specific about what they want the service to provide and each brothel will have its own attraction to its consumers.
This issue of prostitution has been long fought over, since the beginning of time, and now in 2011 we have a way for it to benefit the country financially. This is a profession that is not being taxed because it is being prosecuted and tax-free. This solution is the best because it will help with the financial crisis that we are currently involved in by giving the government a little more revenue than it has had. The amount of money that it would take to get the plan started is very minimal compared to the amount that this industry will bring in. The real issue is the economy; this is one step that the people of America can take to help reduce the national debt. Is this a realistic approach to help solving the crisis that we are in? Yes. Is it going to be implemented? Probably not, and this only stems out of the stigma that comes with this profession, we need to wake up and see that it will never go away and start accepting it as some people’s choice.
Bibliography
Ahmed, Tauseef. "AllVoices." all voices local to global news. all voices, Sep 21, 2009 . Web. 4 Dec 2011..
Bowmaker, S.W. Economics Uncut: A Complete Guide to lefe, death, and misadventure. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2005. Print.
Head, Tom. "Prostitution." About.com. About.com, 2007. Web. 4 Dec 2011..
McWilliams, Peter. United States. US Federal Government. US Federal and State Prostitution Laws and Related Punishments. Colorado: Procon.org, 2010. Print..
Shaffer, B, Carroll, Giron, Guzman, Heath, Nicholson, Tochtrop, and Williams. United states, Colorado. Criminal law and procedure. Senate Bill 11=085. Colorado: Colorado government, 2011. Print..
TOBL, . "Sex workers are lone workers too." Turn off the blue light [Ireland] 28 oct 2011, n. pag. Web. 13 Nov. 2011..
Prostitution has been battled with its legality since its creation back in biblical times. This issue affects the providers and consumers of the service, the police and government as a whole. Legalize prostitution by 2014 through laws dealing with the sale of sex services. Sex services can be found in a legalized form all over the world ranging from “lone workers” in Ireland, who are strictly permitted to selling on the street but if you are there with another “night walker” it is considered a brothel which is illegal, to the red light district of Amsterdam where almost anything goes. The reality is that America is in a financial crisis and our government is looking for ways to solve it. The republicans want a cuts-only plan and the democrats are looking at raising taxes on the wealthy but both parties are overlooking something that is happening and will continue to happen as long as the human libido exists. The economy is too big to tackle all at once right now but if we cut it down in to more manageable sizes then it will be easier to solve, and the issue of prostitution can help rejuvenate it, prostitution will not be the only savior but it will help where it can and as much as it can.
Prostitution has been referred to as the oldest profession and can date back to “6th century BCE” (Head, P.1), where “Greek literature refers to three classes of prostitutes: pornai, or slave prostitutes; freeborn street prostitutes; and hetaera, educated prostitute-entertainers who enjoyed a level of social influence that was denied to nearly all non-prostitute women. Pornai and street prostitutes, appealing to a male clientele, could be either female or male. Hetaera were always female” (Head, P.1). There are people today that believe that this is not an issue, but the fact is that it is still being discussed which means that it is an issue. This issue continues today in Ireland with the “Turn off the Blue Light” movement. One of their greatest quotes talks about a future where the government is trying to help “Imagine an Ireland where government funding could go to projects beyond just those on a mission to end sex work, organizations that could provide advice and training and support to sex workers, perhaps run a nationwide incident reporting and alerts scheme? Imagine a garda/police liaison officer specifically for sex workers, somewhere sex workers could turn, without fear of arrest? Imagine a society where sex workers were not seen as non-people that have to accept violence and abuse? Imagine the understanding of sex work that could be gained if we stopped excluding sex workers? Imagine there was a non-judgmental organization that could offer sex workers help exiting sex work? These are radical ideas, but TOBL is here to bring you such radical ideas” (TOBL).
Some people may say that prostitution is an unfit way to make money and support yourself and possibly your family; some may say that because of your profession that you will not be able to get into heaven after you die. Others may say that this is setting a bad example for the future generation. These are all valuable points of view on this touchy subject. No one knows what happens after we die and if these people choose to take on this profession while they are alive then it is their choice to do so, but for us to outlaw a very lucrative business that could help significantly with the financial crisis we are in, just because of what might happen after we die seems illogical. Now for the people that say it is setting a bad example for our future generation, it is true that it is a rather seedy underside of our society, and many parents would be upset to find out that their children have become a part of that society. This is why the government should legalize prostitution only in the form of brothels and buildings where there cannot be gazers and onlookers. This will shield our youth from “looking up” to these people and accepting it as a mode of livelihood for themselves. This way the sale of sex can be monitored and taxed more like a traditional business. Plus it keeps the suppliers of the service safer because they are in a place they know and have been before, rather than being taken to where the consumer wants to go and do whatever it is they want.
The solution is simple legalize prostitution only in the form of a brothel or other confined space, while still keeping “street-walking” illegal it would have to be at a national level because then the government can tax it effectively unlike what they did with other taxable aspects of this seedy sub-society. This solution entails legislation changing laws that outlaw prostitution now and replace them with legal ways of selling sex services. Next building specific buildings for these businesses. There are still the pimps that had their “territory” and they might be questioning “why can we not have street walking also?” or “what am I supposed to do now?” Under Colorado law right now the penalty for being a pimp is “4-12 yrs and/or $3,000-$750,000 and is also a class 3 felony” (McWilliams). Some may say that this is pretty lucrative for the government the way it stand but that money doesn’t go to the economy it goes to the government so that they can pay to house and contain the inmates right now (Bowmaker, Ch.7). Wouldn’t it be better if there was a more consistent way of gaining revenue? So the best way to get them to support the new deal is to offer them some sort of incentive. This will not be a quick process because the government has to go in to each area, find the pimps that run the business now in the area and ask them to open a brothel and “clean-up” the streets of the neighborhood. As Colorado Law stands right now prostitution is classified under human trafficking. “Human trafficking is the recruitment and transportation of persons within or across national boundaries by means of force, fraud, or deception for the purpose of exploiting them economically” (Schaffer, Ch.257). We need to re-write the laws so that prostitution is defined as the consensual sale of sex but only sold in the form of a brothel.
There are still some that may be against this idea but from different points of view. The health insurance group is probably asking how are we supposed to insure these people who are putting their health second for this job. This plan has sought out to eradicate these issues. Health insurance is a tough issue with prostitution because of how easily diseases can spread from person to person, obviously the premium will be higher for people who are in this line of work but there is also a lot more coverage. Perhaps the insurance companies can offer scenario-specific plans that are made specifically for prostitutes and the diseases that they are prone to contracting. In Germany the insurance looks like this: “insurance companies only loosely define the jobs of their insured into groups, and not individual types of employment. In other words, rather than being defined as "prostitute" or "sex worker" in insurance companies' computer systems, the women on health schemes may simply be in "group 913," which also includes hotel and restaurant workers” (Ahmed 2009). Maybe America should model this plan if prostitution becomes legal.
Also the IRS is trying to tax it as a legitimate business. These are fair questions and have been discussed for some time now. The IRS has a good argument about how to tax it and this is much simpler to solve. By only legalizing prostitution in the form of a brothel it can have an owner and workers that work on commission similar to a car salesman or masseuse. This way the building is being taxed as a whole rather than trying to track down every lone worker and collecting from them as individual contractors. The way massage therapists are taxed right now is like this; “If you are employed, your employer withholds taxes for you, and you do not have to file quarterly estimated tax. Your employer gives you a W-2 form that shows how much income you have been paid for the year and how much money was withheld for state, federal, Medicare and FICA” (Social Security). If you itemize your deductions, you might be eligible to deduct business expenses you incurred that your employer did not reimburse you for, such as professional association dues, massage lotions and accessories, massage-related magazine subscriptions and continuing education, to name a few” (AMTA). These men and women are trying to earn a decent wage and contribute to the well being of a very large market of people.
Implementation will not be quick it will take some time after the laws have been passed. First the government needs to offer an incentive for the pimps to open brothels. This plan calls for elimination of the current penalty for pimps allowing them to do business the way the government sees as the correct and safe way to do it, followed by a subsidy for the buildings that need renovations but most of that cost will be for the owner to pay. Then the IRS will need to set a flat tax that all brothels around the country will pay. The national government will be affected by this implementation because of the huge influx in revenue that they will receive. In the short term or the first year the market will explode because it can be found everywhere. Then the market will slow down to a steady pace when consumers change their appetite for what they want. This is the business side of the argument where we can look at what happens when prostitution is legalized. This would be a similar model to the one of the energy boom back in the early 2000’s. What will happen is there will be a large rush of producers supplying basically the same service as time goes on, the more reputable and upscale brothels will stay in business and the others will cease to exist, then the consumers will become more specific about what they want the service to provide and each brothel will have its own attraction to its consumers.
This issue of prostitution has been long fought over, since the beginning of time, and now in 2011 we have a way for it to benefit the country financially. This is a profession that is not being taxed because it is being prosecuted and tax-free. This solution is the best because it will help with the financial crisis that we are currently involved in by giving the government a little more revenue than it has had. The amount of money that it would take to get the plan started is very minimal compared to the amount that this industry will bring in. The real issue is the economy; this is one step that the people of America can take to help reduce the national debt. Is this a realistic approach to help solving the crisis that we are in? Yes. Is it going to be implemented? Probably not, and this only stems out of the stigma that comes with this profession, we need to wake up and see that it will never go away and start accepting it as some people’s choice.
Bibliography
Ahmed, Tauseef. "AllVoices." all voices local to global news. all voices, Sep 21, 2009 . Web. 4 Dec 2011.
Bowmaker, S.W. Economics Uncut: A Complete Guide to lefe, death, and misadventure. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2005. Print.
Head, Tom. "Prostitution." About.com. About.com, 2007. Web. 4 Dec 2011.
McWilliams, Peter. United States. US Federal Government. US Federal and State Prostitution Laws and Related Punishments. Colorado: Procon.org, 2010. Print.
Shaffer, B, Carroll, Giron, Guzman, Heath, Nicholson, Tochtrop, and Williams. United states, Colorado. Criminal law and procedure. Senate Bill 11=085. Colorado: Colorado government, 2011. Print.
TOBL, . "Sex workers are lone workers too." Turn off the blue light [Ireland] 28 oct 2011, n. pag. Web. 13 Nov. 2011.
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